I'm sure it won't come as a shock to anyone if I say our family is trying to keep better tabs on where we spend our money these days. I mean, you're probably saying, "join the club".
As I was grocery shopping last week, I decided to begin a little game with myself. Would it be possible for me to spend only $100 to feed my family for the entire week. Now, maybe there are some of you frugal Fannies out there who are thinking, "$100? I could feed my family for a month on that, maybe even two if I tap into my food storage."
Frugality has never been one of my traits, especially where food is concerned. We typically spend $150 per week on groceries and go out to eat one night/week with the kids. In addition, I probably stop off at the market at least once during the week to pick up more milk or something I forgot to buy, so spending only $100/week is a HUGE challenge for us.
I let my family know that this was a challenge I had set; otherwise, I would surely give in when the children started complaining about what my oldest refers to as "quick fix meals" - aka pasta or something along those lines. I guess he expects me to whip up a turkey dinner every night.
How's it going? Well, last week I spent $98 and change on my shopping trip. I had to return later in the week for more milk and cat food, so my total was a little over $103. Still a huge savings from the week before.
Today was Friday - woohoo!!...shopping day. The kids had fun seeing if we would indeed be able to stick to our limit. When we got up to the checkout the total was $101.98, BUT through the magic of coupons, we were able to get out of the store for a mere $91.73!! I still have to go to another market for a couple of things that were significantly less expensive, but I think overall I am doing a pretty impressive job of saving our family money.
Will my thrifty trend last? I don't know - but for now, it's kind of fun trying.
spinach and artichoke pan pizza
1 week ago
6 comments:
Diane, that's awesome!!!! You have totally motivated me. I do not know if I could come in under 100.00 maybe if milk was not almost 7.00 a gallon out here, but I am going to try and do better.
Very cool! Motivation indeed! I'm impressed! It's hard to feed a family with growing boys! I have the same challenge of frugality at the grocery. I do pretty good, but sometimes I just don't think about the extras. I need to start making bread, that would save us a lot, too I think.
Great job, Diane!! And it's great you are getting the kids involved. Do you bring reusable bags? The stores here will give you 5 cents per bag...I usually bring 10 so that is an additonal 50 cents right there! Keep up the good work!
You sound like me now. I try with all my might to spend as close to $200 a month on groceries. Granted, this does not include the every few days of milk buying, bread every week and little essentials like that. But feeding a family of six on that a month is a trip! LOL last night I spend a grand total of three hundred. LOL I think I was a bit off my budget. What do you think..Good luck.... HUGS
What a great challenge Diane, sounds though you're doing well so far :)
Is it just my store or do all the stores across the country charge next to nothing for junk like potato chips, cheetos, pop-tarts? And then they jack the price way up on the organic stuff and produce. Makes it so much harder to both eat healthfully and save $$$!
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